Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The thrilling spectacle of the stage, the pursuit of the psychedelic and the enchantment of creative arena, desire lives within any theatre, craving can be born within the sound of a prompter’s whisper or the sound of the band striking up the first tentative notes. It is in the spectacle that encompasses the spectacle that makes Purson’s new album Desire’s Magic Theatre such a caper of adventure to relish listening to.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
As sure as eggs is eggs, sometimes you just got to mix up the variety of whatever comes out of the fowl and know that you can turn into a dish fit for a king, or at least offer something new with the equipment available.
Scrambled Limbs self titled debut mini album takes all the eggs available and gives them a fitting service of rememberance, a celebration of mixed emotions and experimentation that at times is mesmerizing and certainly magnetic enough to garner the attention of the listener without losing any interest over the entire enterprise.
They duel for supremacy,
thrusting through the pain
of psychological split personalities
and yet as they are
one mind,
one body,
they pray to altars that are inaccurate
of their true desires, that their belief
in each other as the sub-dominant
creature and that the latent one
underneath is the true face in which to wear.
The contest will always be uneven
as the illusion is far
too engrained, no middle ground
in this fight, where they can be no
blood spilt as both duellists
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Experience shows in all manner of ways, it makes at times what can be easy work seem dramatic and full of confidence, it can be seen as knowing full well what to expect and how to handle the situation thrown at you with the force of a juggernaut careering out of control or it can suggest in no uncertain terms that to head somewhere once tainted is a waste of time. For as Richmond Fontaine astutely point out in the tremendous album You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go Back To, home is where they want you and where you are appreciated, everything is just scrubland and unloved inhospitable surroundings.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Truth is subjective, what one believes to be accurate, genuine feelings of bona fide existence, is in the eyes of another something of a misinterpretation, a misunderstanding between what is heard and what is conceived in the emotionally torn heart; delusion between two souls is often the case for fall out, especially when one insists that This Is What The Truth Feels Like.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is in the ability, the sheer desire in wanting to make an impact and be remembered for being unique that makes experimentation such a yearned for approach within art. It is in the craving for hearing a voice that is new, a sound that stalks the recess of your mind and the bright glare of showmanship that makes everything you have held before so honest and warm and the drawing of entering darkness so wonderfully enticing.
There are times I happily forget
that you exist at all,
outside of nightmares,
the broken shafts of disturbed light
and the mental scars of abuse;
I happily forget the put-downs,
the anger, the snide comments,
the destructive silences,
the tailor-made insults,
the one time you hit me,
the mean demands,
the malicious lies,
the spiteful kicks,
the way you left me in a hospital bed,
the wickedness of your games,
the cruelty,
the cruel devices and heartless devious nature
It is gnawing away tonight,
the alien, the parasite,
the body’s own black dog
with sharpened claws
and rabid spittle chocked teeth
is eating away at the spine
and I want to scream
this is not who I am…
but I left it far too late,
procrastinating
about Time,
always Time,
in which to reason with the parasite
that gnaws at my spine…
reason…
how to reason with the enemy within
and how to keep arguing
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Paapa Essiedu, Clarence Smith, Cyril Nri, Natalie Simpson, Hiran Abeysekera, Doreene Blackstock, Eke Chukwu, James Cooney, Bethan Cullinane, Kevin N. Golding, Marcus Griffiths, Marieme Diouf, Romayne Andrews, Byron Mondahl, Tanya Moodie, Theo Ogundipe, Ewart James Walters, Temi Wilkey.
The king is dead, a usurper and a murderer sits on the throne and the man who would be king sits and procrastinates to the point of lethargy and inaction; hardly the calling card for one of the greatest plays in the English language to be treated, the single red rose that was visible at the local church in front of Shakespeare’s stone perhaps wilting under the pressure of the enormous task undertaken by the R.S.C. as Hamlet once more roared into Stratford-Upon-Avon.
I am but the gracious Fool of a negligent king.
He only speaks when nobody can see me
or when nobody can feel the disdain
of his regal flapping tongue’s insanity
as it proves to be as afraid
of the dark as he.
I am but the foolish grace
in harlequin clothes
and hey nonny irrational repose
as I embrace your impudent soul,
as I cradle your elderly, dusty, ancient bones
and psychologically fractured mind.
I am but an honourable Fool